The Cupid Chronicles
The Cupid Chronicles
Also by Coleen Murtagh Paratore
The Wedding Planner's Daughter
How Prudence Proovit Proved the Truth About Fairy Tales
26 Big Things Small Hands Do
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If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN MIX
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 2006 by Coleen Paratore
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN PAPERBACKS and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
ALADDIN MIX is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Also available in a Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers hardcover edition.
Designed by Greg Stadnyk
The text of this book was set in Berkeley.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First Aladdin Mix edition January 2008
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Paratore, Coleen, 1958-
The cupid chronicles / By Coleen Paratore.â1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: High school freshman Willa holds fundraising events at her family's Cape Cod inn to save the local library and hopefully date JFK (Joesph Francis Kennelly).
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-0867-8 (hc.)
ISBN-10: 1-4169-0867-6 (hc.)
[1. Social actionâFiction. 2. LibrariesâFiction. 3. Hotels, motels, etc.âfiction. 4. Cape Cod (Mass.)âFiction.]
I. Title.
PZ7.P2137Co 2007
[Fic]âdc22
2005032351
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-5484-2 (pbk.)
e-ISBN: 978-1-439-10819-2
ISBN-10: 1-4169-5484-8 (pbk.)
To my mother, Peg Spain Murtagh, the queen of hearts, who took me on the bus to the library and shared her great love of books
âC. M. P.
4 Ruby and the Bramble Burners
29 Willa's Super Boy-Magnet Idea
“Willa's Pix 2”âRecommended by Willa Havisham
The Cupid Chronicles
Â
Juniors Don't Date FreshmenÂ
This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy,
This Senior Junior, giant dwarf ⦠Cupid,
âWilliam Shakespeare,
Love's Labour's Lost
“But what about Cupid?” I ask my friend Tina.
Ever since Tina's aunt Amber started a match-making company called The Perfect Ten, Tina thinks the way to true love is finding the boy you have ten important things in common with.
“Cupid?”
Tina stops writing and laughs. “You are such a dreamer, Willa. What's that flying baby with a bow and arrow got to do with love?”
“Everything,” I say “Cupid's got everything to do with love. Cupid's the magic and the mystery, the goose bumps and heart-thumps, the lightning bolt you can't explain, butâ”
“Oh, Willa, get your head out of that Shakespeare book. The numbers don't lie. Tanner and I are perfect for each other.”
Tina's Bambi eyes roll from east to west, and set on Tanner McGee. He's sitting at the varsity soccer table. Tall and strong with a lifeguard tan, Tanner's so gorgeous he glows. Girls in the dining hall drool dreamily as Tanner stuffs an entire slice of pizza into his mouth. Tina smiles and takes a princess-size nibble of hers.
“See!” Tina flips her blond hair back and writes in her notebook again. “Favorite food?
Pizza.
Tanner likes pizza. I like pizza. Favorite sport?
Soccer.
Tanner likes soccer. I like soccer.”
“Are those the ten questions?” I ask. “You've got to be kiddingâ”
“No, Willa. I'm making up my own questions. Aunt Amber's got a patent on hers. But food and sports are important, right?” Tina flips her hair back again. “And we have lots of other things in common, too. Tanner has brown eyes. I have brown eyes. Tanner's name starts with
T.
My name starts withâ”
“Okay, Tina, stop.”
I love Tina Belle. She's my best friend. But sometimes I've just got to whack her back to reality. “You've just described half of Bramble Academy Everybody likes pizza. Everybody likes soccer. You haven't even met this boy And besides, Tanner's a junior. You're a freshman. Juniors don't date freshmen.”
“Really, Willa?” Now Tina's getting mad. “Well maybe juniors don't date freshmen in those drippy-do Nancy Drew books you read. But in real life they do.”
“Actually Tina, I prefer Dickens. And Shakespeare, of course. Wasn't Dr. Swaminathan so dramatic reading
Hamlet
this morning? It's like we were in the Globe Theatre in London.
To be or not to beâthat is the question ⦔
“Well, I think Shakespeare's a sleeper,” Tina says, “but Dr. Swammy could be on the soaps. Speaking of which ⦠there's Mackie and Mona.
One.”
Tina sticks her thumb in the air. “He's a junior; she's a freshman. And Booker and Babs.
Twoâ”
“Tina, those are actors on TV. This is Bramble, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Around here, juniors don't date freshmen. Besides, Tanner's gorgeous andâ”
“Thanks a lot, Willa.”
“Oh, Tina, you know you're beautiful.”
Without a doubt Tina is the prettiest girl in the
freshman class. Ruby Snivler's second. I guess
maybe
I'm in the top ten, which isn't bragging since there are only twelve girls in the whole class.